Rookie Legislator Steps On Elders' Toes

Fairfax Republican Challenges Traditions

That seems to be one of the most frequently asked questions in Richmond by legislators, aides, lobbyists, reporters and other hangers-on at the General Assembly.

Gerald Fill, it turns out, is the new Republican delegate from the Mount Vernon area of Fairfax County. He is also the guy who has stepped on a number of toes in the first days of his maiden session.

Some of the highlights: At the first meeting of the General Laws Committee, to which he had been appointed, Fill surprised other members and Chairman Alan A. Diamonstein, D-Newport News, when he complained publicly after Diamonstein announced subcommittee assignments. Fill had received one subcommittee; some veterans got more.

As Fill recalls, "All I did was ask how he selected the subcommittee assignments, to explain his rationale for who was on what committee."

Diamonstein responded that people he knew on the committee got the most assignments, and that after Fill had been around for a while, perhaps he'd get more.

"Challenging the chairman's prerogative is not the smartest thing to do," said Del. Alan E. Mayer, D-Fairfax, a member of the committee. When Fill testified before a powerful House Finance subcommittee about his bill to repeal a law that permits a Fairfax County referendum on a local income tax, subcommittee Chairman Lewis W. Parker Jr., D-South Hill, asked, "Why do you want to repeal it when it doesn't become effective unless there's a referendum?"

As Parker recalls, Fill "got excited and started talking about a public hearing and - not knowing anything - he started suggesting how I should run my public hearing, and I thought I could probably handle that."

Fill said he was "stunned" at Parker's reaction. "I barely got up. I didn't say anything substantive at all. I don't think I said 10 words."

"I'm just a country boy," said Parker, an 18-year veteran of the legislature. "We're a little more shy than persons from the urban areas. When I came up (as a newcomer), you kept your mouth shut."

Fill pre-empted the long-time chairman of the Northern Virginia delegation, Sen. Clive L. DuVal, D-McLean, by introducing a bill to limit real estate taxes after DuVal had said weeks ago he intended to introduce a similar piece of legislation.

DuVal said a "freshman Republican even with the best bill in the world" would have problems getting it passed, but that Fill had a right to try.

Fill said his bill would limit increases to 5 percent (DuVal's would limit them to 8 percent), which he felt had more support among his constituents. Fill also surprised his fellow Republicans by introducing a bill seeking permission for localities to hold referendums as a way to advise governing bodies about issues.

The problem was that Fairfax's other freshman GOP legislator, Richard L. Fisher of Vienna, had agreed with DuVal that he would introduce the bill.

Both Fill and Fisher, who has developed a more low-key reputation, said they resolved the issue by agreeing to co-sponsor each other's bills on the advisory referendum.

"The adage that you learn as a freshman and don't get in over your head and make a fool out of yourself, those kinds of admonitions ... seem to have escaped him entirely," said Del. Leslie L. Byrne, D-Fairfax. "Not knowing what's going on doesn't seem to have slowed him down a bit."

Fill said he hopes to work compatibly with Byrne, adding that he would like her "to come to me instead of to the press with observations on mistakes I'm making."

Fill, 51, who owns a small waterproofing company, is a former Fairfax County School Board member who defeated Democrat Linda T. Puller in a November election for the seat of retiring Republican Frank Medico.